Company Behind West Virginia Chemical Spill Fined Just $11,000

A
storage tank with the chemical designation MCHM,
4-methylcyclohexane methanol, the chemical that leaked into the
Elk River, is shown at Freedom Industries storage facility in
Charleston, Va.AP Photo/Steve
Helber

The verdict has been reached for Freedom Industries, the company
behind the disastrous West Virginia chemical spill that left over
300,000 people without drinking water for ten days this January.

The company will be fined $11,000 by the federal government for
"improper storage and infrastructure violations", according to
this AP report. Newsweek
reported this amounts
to $27 to each person affected.

The chemical, known
as 4-methylcyclohexane
methanol, or crude-MCHM for short, was released
from an out-of-date tank into Elk River, exactly one mile from a
treatment plant that distributes water to ten counties, including
the capital city, Charleston.

At the time of the spill, questions were rampant about the
seemingly un-studied toxin.

Seven months later, we know the chemical sent over 400 people to
the hospital complaining of exposure-related skin rashes.
Crude-MCHM is not, however, one
of the 200 chemicals the EPA has published data on. According to
a 2010 California Senate review, the EPA has about 83,000
chemicals left to study and report on.

The other legislative result of the spill was the January passage
of a bill "imposing tougher regulations on above ground storage
tanks, a notoriously under-regulated facet of the
hazardous-materials system in West Virginia."